While covering the Yarnell Hill Fire for the Arizona Republic and 12News, the day came when the procession of hearses carrying the bodies of the 19 fallen firefighters would be winding its’ way up from Phoenix to Prescott. I knew the paper would have almost a dozen still photographers documenting the long, sad journey. I thought about what photo would be the most impactful from the procession. The first thing that came to mind was getting the hearses passing by burned-out structures in Glen Ilah and Yarnell. Even better, I thought, it would be most relevant to shoot fellow firefighters, ones that had fought the same fire, saluting their fallen brothers. The day before the procession, I approached a public information officer for the Southwest Incident Management Team and began to pitch my idea. I wanted into Yarnell to capture images of wildland firefighters paying their respects to the Granite Mountain Hot Shots, with devastation from the fire visible in the background. The image could be powerful and all-telling. The PIO said she would pass along my request to people “farther up the food chain” and that I should hear something by 8pm that night. I was told that they had created a 3-person pool, a still photographer, a TV videographer and a reporter, that would be allowed in, just to get the procession rolling through Yarnell. The pool would then be immediately escorted out after the procession passed. The strange thing was, they didn’t say that I was the still photographer pool. The PIO indicated that I would have to show up at the northernmost road block on highway 89 at 12:30 and then the pool would be picked. I showed up at 9 to make sure I was the still shooter. A videographer from Channel 5 in Phoenix, and an Arizona Republic reporter, Jen Kuhney, were the other two chosen. I held great anticipation when traveling in the PIO’s SUV as we rolled through the roadblocks , headed into Yarnell. I didn’t know what we would see, but I wanted so much to capture this image , one that would be powerful and emotional.

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As we entered the main street in Yarnell, I spotted about 10 Arizona Public Service trucks with cherry pickers extending over the road, American and Arizona flags attached. The PIO stopped, and said this was as far as we could go. To say I was disappointed is an understatement. The PIO said we could not move from that spot. There were only a handful of firefighters on the road and they were about 50 yards away. The photo just wasn’t coming together at all. But, I did feel good that I was the journalist that got us into Yarnell and would have photos of the procession going through the town that, until that moment, had been off limits to media.

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After about ten minutes of shooting practice shots of the road and the cherry pickers, a Yavapai County Sheriff’s Deputy pulled over, got out, and told us we had to leave. I couldn’t believe it. Apparently, the sheriff wasn’t notified that we would be coming into town, and they had jurisdiction over the entire area. We pleaded our case, but to no avail. We climbed back into the SUV and left. As we passed the roadblock, exiting Yarnell, I got excited , because, off to my left, standing shoulder to shoulder on highway 89, were a dozen wildland firefighters from the Tribal Nations Repsonse Team, a team that had been fighting the Yarnell Hill Fire since July 1st, the day after the 19 were killed. It was just what I wanted.

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I jumped out of the PIO vehicle and quickly went back to the wildland crew. I introduced myself, got everyone’s name, and asked how they would honor their fallen brothers. Would they salute ? Would they bow their heads ? They indicated that they would take their fire helmets off and place them on their chests. Very good, I thought, because their faces would be in sunlight. I started doing test shots of the line, horizontal, facing the highway at a 90 degree angle. They stood , shoulder to shoulder, looking out at the road. I stood with them for more than two hours, with no other media in sight, anticipating the second best shot I could hope for, firefighters who fought the Yarnell Hill Fire, saluting their comrades. The only lacking visual element would be the background of burned structures.

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I heard someone yell, “Here they come !”. The procession was traveling much faster than it had at other points on the route, because this stretch of road was wide open, with no lights or crosswalks or anything to slow them down. I guessed they were travelling about 40 miles an hour. 19 hearses would go by very quickly.

I saw the first hearse approaching the far end of the line. To my utter shock and amazement, the entire line of firefighters turned 45 degrees away from me and toward the procession. They had been standing for two hours facing the road at 90 degrees, and at the last second , they swivel, causing me to be at their back. The shot was ruined. I shot a few frames and realized it wasn’t working. The “face” of the firefighter that I planned on getting closeup to was now facing away from me. I grabbed my other camera and took off running to the front of the line. I knew I only had seconds to get a shot. There were only three hearses left in the procession. I spun around, trying to compose the shot with the line of firefighters and the hearses in the same shot. I got two hearses that went by as I tried to compose the shot. Then, I grabbed my other camera with the 300 mm lens, and took a couple of quick shots of the entire line holding their helmets on their chests.

After all the planning, all the waiting, all the preparation, I got a few usable shots, but not exactly what I wanted. This was a day where all of my effort and all of my planning just didn’t pay off like I had hoped. On a positive note, I do like the grab shot I got with the 300mm.

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